An American pastor is offering his life in exchange for a Nigerian Christian sentenced to death by hanging for killing a Fulani herdsman in self-defense during an attack on his farm.
Pastor William Devlin, the missions pastor of Infinity Bible Church in the South Bronx, New York, is speaking out in support of Sunday Jackson after the Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld the farmer’s death sentence on March 7. Devlin first announced his plea when speaking to a group of reporters in Nigeria after the court made its decision.
“I was just filled with emotion,” Devlin told The Christian Post. “I said to the press, ‘My relationship with Jesus Messiah demands that I offer myself up for Sunday Jackson, much as Jesus Messiah offered Himself up for me.'”
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“God has blessed me with a great life,” the pastor said, noting that he’s 72 while Jackson is only 30 years old. “If I can save that man’s life, and they take my life, then I’m willing to do it.”
Devlin, the volunteer CEO of the nonprofit charities REDEEM! and Widows & Orphans, has traveled the globe for years advocating for and standing in solidarity with persecuted Christians. He has been involved in Jackson’s case since 2021, the year Justice Fatima Ahmed Tafida, a Muslim, sentenced the farmer to death.
The sentence followed a 2015 incident in which a Fulani herder, Buba Ardo Bawuro, allegedly pulled a knife on Jackson. At the time, Jackson was a farmer and student from Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
Jackson says he was working on his farm in Numan when Bawuro herded his animals onto Jackson’s farm and allowed them to feed on his crops. Jackson maintains that the herdsman attacked and injured him when he tried to confront Bawuro about the situation, but the farmer managed to overpower and kill the man.
At the initial trial in 2021, the Adamawa High Court judge interpreted the law to mean that Jackson should have fled the scene instead of killing his attacker, sentencing the farmer to death by hanging. The Supreme Court of Nigeria upheld this ruling earlier this month.
While Devlin joins various Christian leaders in advocating for clemency in Jackson’s case, the pastor and human rights advocate clarified that he is prepared to die in the farmer’s place if these efforts prove unsuccessful.
“I see it as obedience to the Scripture,” the pastor stated. “Jesus Messiah did it for me. He went to the cross, and I have a new life because of that. So why wouldn’t I do that for someone else?”
Leaders with the Christian Association of Nigeria are calling on Adamawa Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to pardon Jackson.
“The facts of this case are a textbook case of miscarriage of justice: In the first place, Mr. Sunday Jackson was held awaiting trial for capital offence for several years — a trial that essentially consisted of no more than five sittings,” a CAN statement released after the Supreme Court’s ruling reads.
“Instead of a five-day trial, he spent over six years in custody in a non-controversial trial in which he did not deny that the death of the deceased occurred as a result of an altercation via self-defense.”
Violence in Nigeria between radicalized herders and predominantly Christian farming communities has led to thousands of deaths in the past decade, with some groups contending that the standard has been reached to declare “genocide,” a claim the Nigerian government rejects.
Christian advocates often complain that violent attacks targeting their communities in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria are not often prosecuted and attackers are rarely held accountable.
Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives held a congressional hearing last Wednesday titled “Conflict and Persecution in Nigeria: The Case for a CPC Designation.”
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, called on President Donald Trump’s administration to redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern,” a designation that can result in potential sanctions or other diplomatic deterrence measures.
During his first presidency, the Trump administration designated Nigeria as a CPC in 2020, which former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reversed in 2021 during President Joe Biden’s administration. The CPC label is reserved for nations that engage in and tolerate the most egregious violations of religious freedom.
While the House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted H. Res. 82 last year, which called on the Biden administration to redesignate Nigeria as a CPC, the resolution never came to the House floor. Smith reintroduced the legislation earlier this month, which is now called H.Res. 220.
Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Makurdi, Nigeria, joined several experts in testifying at the hearing. The bishop warned of a “long-term, Islamic agenda” to “homogenize” the population and eliminate all of the Christians.
“This strategy includes both violent and non-violent actions, such as the exclusion of Christians from positions of power, the abduction of Church members, the raping of women, the killing and expulsion of Christians, the destruction of churches and farmlands of Christian farmers, followed by the occupation of such lands by Fulani herders,” Anagbe testified. “All of this takes place without government interference or reprisals.”
According to the 2025 Global Christian Relief Red List, nearly 10,000 Nigerian Christians died at the hands of Boko Haram and other Islamic extremist groups between November 2022 and November 2024. In addition to Boko Haram, armed Fulani herders frequently target Christians, subjecting them to violence and creating feelings of unrest.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
